Cars (franchise)

Cars (2006)

Cars is the seventh Pixar film. The story is about rookie racecar, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), who gets lost on the way to California for a tiebreaker race in the Piston Cup, a famous race worldwide, and ends up in a little town called Radiator Springs on Route 66, that had since been forgotten because the Interstate was built. He accidentally wrecks the road and is sentenced to fix it. During his time, he goes tractor tipping with his new best friend Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and goes on a drive with his love interest Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt).

After McQueen fixes the road, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) no longer wants him in town, so he calls the news crew to take McQueen to Los Angeles, but it doesn't take long for Doc to realize how much he's helped Radiator Springs, so he goes back to being the Hudson Hornet and becomes McQueen's crew chief, while most of the Radiator Springs folks become his pit crew. McQueen is about to win the race, but helps The King (Richard Petty) cross the finish line after Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) crashes him and wins the Piston Cup after being in third on the last lap, but is later booed by everyone as comeuppance.

Despite his loss, Lightning is offered to be the new face of Dinoco, but he decides to stay with Rusteze. He does, however, arrange for Mater to ride in the Dinoco helicopter just like McQueen promised. The film ends with McQueen setting up his racing headquarters in Radiator Springs, thereby putting it back on the map.

Cars 2 (2011)

Cars 2 is the twelfth film from Pixar. The story is about Lightning McQueen competing in the first World Grand Prix, a three-part race set in Japan, Italy and England that will determine the world's fastest racecar. His rival in the race is Italian Formula One car, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro). Along the way, Mater is mistaken for a spy by British spycar, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and falls in love with McMissile's assistant Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer).

The three of them uncover a plot to sabotage the race led by Professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann) and a group of lemon cars, including Grem (Joe Mantegna) and Acer (Peter Jacobson). When the race reaches its conclusion in England, Mater figures out that Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) is the mastermind behind the plot to sabotage the race, since he started it in the first place and had intended for cars everywhere to run on oil as revenge for the lemons' reputation as being "history's biggest loser cars," implying that Axlerod is also a lemon.

With the plot foiled and the villains defeated, Mater is knighted by the Queen of the United Kingdom (Vanessa Redgrave) and a new race is held in Radiator Springs. Mater is offered to join McMissile and Shiftwell on another mission, but he chooses to stay. He does, however, get to keep the rocket engines he acquired as the two agents take off in Siddeley (Jason Isaacs), the British spy jet.

Cars 3 (2017)

Michael Wallis, the voice of Sheriff and a Route 66 consultant for the first two films, said in August 2013 in an interview with WGBZ radio that Pixar will make a third film in the series, which will go back to Route 66 and will also include Route 99. At the Disney shareholders meeting in March 2014, Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger confirmed that Pixar is working on a third Cars film.

John Lasseter revealed in October 2014, at the Tokyo International Film Festival, that the film will feature a tribute to Hayao Miyazaki's film The Castle of Cagliostro in a form of an old Citroën 2CV. In July 20, 2015, at a private car show called Pixar Motorama, Lasseter said that the film may be released in the summer of 2018 or 2019. At the 2015 D23 Expo, a teaser poster for the film was revealed. In February 26, 2016, during an interview with The Advertiser, composer Randy Newman said he will be composing the music for Cars 3.

On October 8, 2015, Disney and Pixar announced that Cars 3 will be released on June 16, 2017. On May 30, 2016, it was announced that the film is being directed by Brian Fee. Lasseter stated "Brian was part of the original story team on Cars, so he really knows the DNA."

In June 2016, the synopsis for the film was revealed, McQueen, now a veteran racer, gets some help from Cruz Ramirez, a trainer, along with inspiration from the late Doc Hudson, to get back into his racing career that revolves around futuristic racers, as well as his racing rival Jackson Storm.

Mater's Tall Tales

Mater's Tall Tales is a series of short animated films or Cars Toons featuring the characters Mater and Lightning McQueen from the film Cars. The first three shorts premiered in 2008 on Toon Disney. Not exclusive to television, the episodes have also premiered on DVDs/Blu-rays, or as a theatrical short. A total of 11 episodes have been released, with "Time Travel Mater" (2012) being the latest.

All shorts in the series follow the same tall-tale formula: Mater tells a story of something he has done in the past. When Lightning questions Mater over whether the events in the story actually occurred (or, in some episodes, asks him what he did next), Mater always claimed that Lightning was also involved, and continues the story including McQueen's sudden participation. The shorts end with Mater leaving the scene, often followed by characters or references to the story that was being told, suggesting the story might be real.

Tales from Radiator Springs

Tales from Radiator Springs is a series of short animated films or Cars Toons. The first three two-minute episodes - "Hiccups", "Bugged", and "Spinning" - premiered on March 22, 2013, on Disney Channel, and have been available online since March 24, 2013. A fourth short in the series, titled "The Radiator Springs 500 ½", was released in spring 2014 on the digital movie service Disney Movies Anywhere. It premiered August 1, 2014, on Disney Channel. The short has a runtime of 6 minutes.

Mater and the Ghostlight

Mater and the Ghostlight is a 2006 Pixar computer-animated short created for the DVD of Cars, which was released on October 25, 2006, in Australia and the United States on November 7, 2006. The short, set in the Cars world, tells a story of Mater being haunted by a mysterious blue light.

Vitaminamulch: Air Spectacular

A Planes short film titled Vitaminamulch: Air Spectacular was released on the DVD and Blu-ray of Planes: Fire & Rescue. It was directed by Dan Abraham and executive produced by John Lasseter. In the short film, Dusty Crophopper and Chug need to replace two daredevils in an airshow Leadbottom is hosting. At first unsuccessful, Dusty and Chug accidentally start a series of events that captures the audience's attention, eventually completing the stunt.

Spin-offs

Starting with Planes in 2013, DisneyToon Studios, Pixar's sister company, released a spin-off film set in the Cars world, featuring planes as the main characters. The film was followed by the sequel, Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014). In addition to a third Planes film, the studio was also planning spin-off films featuring boats, trains and other vehicles.

Planes (2013)

Planes is a computer animated Cars spin-off film produced by DisneyToon Studios. The first film in the trilogy, where the main characters are planes, was released in theaters by Walt Disney Pictures on August 9, 2013. The film was directed by Klay Hall and executive produced by John Lasseter. In the film, Dusty Crophopper, a small-town cropdusting plane, follows his dreams by competing in a world air race, despite his fear of heights.

Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)

A sequel, titled Planes: Fire & Rescue, was theatrically released on July 18, 2014. This film is also produced by DisneyToon Studios. Bobs Gannaway, co-developer of Jake and the Never Land Pirates and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and co-director of Mickey Mouse Works and Secret of the Wings, directed the film. Lasseter again served as executive producer. In the film, Dusty is now a world-famous air racer, but learns he will never be able to race again due to an engine problem. After accidentally starting a fire, Dusty decides to become a firefighter and trains at Piston Peak Air Attack.

Box-office performance

Earning over $1.4 billion, Cars, including its Planes spin-off films, is the eighth-highest grossing animated franchise.

In its opening weekend, the original Cars earned $60,119,509 in 3,985 theaters in the United States, ranking number one at the box office. In the United States, the film held onto the number one spot for two weeks before being surpassed by Click, and then by Superman Returns the following weekend. It went on to gross $461,983,149 worldwide (ranking number six in 2006 films) and $244,082,982 in the United States (the third-highest-grossing film of 2006 in the country, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Night at the Museum). It was the highest grossing animated film of 2006 in the United States, but lost to Ice Age: The Meltdown in worldwide totals.

Cars 2 has earned $191,452,396 in the United States and Canada, and $368,400,000 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $559,852,396. Worldwide on its opening weekend, it made $109.0 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated title.

Awards and nominations

Cars had a highly successful run during the 2006 awards season. Many film critic associations such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review named it the best Animated Feature Film of 2006. Cars also received the title of Best Reviewed Animated Feature of 2006 from Rotten Tomatoes. Randy Newman and James Taylor received a Grammy Award for the song "Our Town", which later went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (an award it lost to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth). The film also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, but it lost to Happy Feet. Cars was also selected as the Favorite Family Movie at the 33rd People's Choice Awards. Perhaps the most prestigious award that Cars received was the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Cars also won the highest award for animation in 2006, the Best Animated Feature Annie Award. The film was also nominated for AFI's 10 Top 10 in the "Animation" genre.

Franchise

This is a list of characters from the 2006 film, Cars, its 2011 and 2017 sequels: Cars 2 and Cars 3, its 2013 and 2014 spin-off films: Planes and Planes: Fire and Rescue, and its 2008 television series Cars Toons.

Video games

In May 2007, the Cars video game was announced to be a "Platinum Hit" on the Xbox, "Greatest Hit" on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, and "Player's Choice" on the GameCube. Two sequels were released, "Cars Mater-National Championship" being the first one and "Cars Race-O-Rama". A video game based on Cars 2 was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC and Nintendo DS on June 21, 2011. The PlayStation 3 version of the game was reported to be compatible with stereoscopic 3D gameplay. In October 2014, Gameloft released Cars: Fast as Lightning, a customizable, city-building racing game for smartphone platforms.

Similar films

Marcus Aurelius Canônico of Folha de S.Paulo described The Little Cars series (Os Carrinhos in Portuguese), a Brazilian computer graphics film series, as a derivative of Cars. Canônico discussed whether lawsuits from Pixar would appear. The Brazilian Ministry of Culture posted Marcus Aurelius Canônico's article on its website.

It has also been noted that the plot of Cars bears a striking resemblance to that of Doc Hollywood, the 1991 romantic comedy which stars Michael J. Fox as a hotshot young doctor, who, after causing a traffic accident in a small town, is sentenced to work at the town hospital, falls in love with a local law student and eventually acquires an appreciation for small town values.

Merchandising

The Mattel-produced 1/55 scale Toy Cars were some of the most popular toys of the 2006 Summer Season. Dozens of characters are represented, with some having multiple versions available. Several stores had trouble keeping the toys in stock, and some models are still difficult to find because of being shipped in lower numbers than other characters.

Some online Disney enthusiasts are comparing it to the same shortage that Mattel faced with its Toy Story line in 1995. On August 14, 2007, the die-cast Sarge car, made between May and July 2007, was recalled due to "impermissible levels of lead" used in the paint. Another Cars product which followed the Disney-Pixar Cars Die-Cast Line were miniature versions of the characters which were painted in different colors to represent different events called Mini Adventures. Also, Lego will make some sets for the sequel.

On June 22, 2006 Disney Consumer Products announced that Cars merchandise broke records for retail sales based on a Disney-Pixar product, recording 10-to-1 more volume than Finding Nemo. DCP reports that product expansion will take place in the fall alongside the DVD release of the film. Mattel has announced that Cars toys will continue through 2008 with the release of at least 80 new vehicles.

A 36 car pack called "Motor Speedway of the South" will feature most of the race cars seen during the opening race sequence of the film. (This is also the name for the track race in the film) Estimates from the New York Daily News indicate that sales of Cars merchandise two weeks out from the release of the film amounted to US$600 million. Estimates put out in November by the Walt Disney Company peg total sales for the brand at around $1 billion.

Kelley Blue Book, a resource for appraising values of vehicles, has humorously "appraised" four of the cars, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sally Carrera, and Doc Hudson according to their make/model and personalities. The United States Department of Transportation has used scenes from the movie in a commercial regarding the Click It or Ticket campaign. In conjunction with the film's release, a chocolate ice cream on a stick resembling a car tire was released in Australia. These ice creams were called "Burnouts".

The naming of the particular product sparked controversy as the name "Burnouts" was believed to have encouraged street racing and committing burnouts. These acts are illegal and heavy fines and convictions are issued to those committing these acts in Australia. It is unknown as to whether the products have been discontinued. In Norway, the candy company Nidar produced candy with the characters on the outer packaging and pictures of the characters on the packaging of the assorted candy on the inside. These bags also came with Cars themed tattoos.

In the U.S., an animated Walmart truck can be seen on a Walmart advertisements for Cars. In the Walmart TV commercial the Walmart truck was talking to Mater. In South Africa, Italy, and several other countries where Opel is present (or with Opel models under Chevrolet and Vauxhall brand), GM has a campaign featuring a General Motors Astra, an Opel Meriva, and a General Motors Zafira as characters in the world of Cars, including TV ads made by Pixar, with the Opel models interacting with Lightning McQueen, Mater and Ramone.

The first ad involved the Opels coming to Radiator Springs as tourists. The second involved their failed attempts at auditioning for Mater. In the end the Opels lost the part to the real Mater. In July 2006, greeting card giant Hallmark Cards unveiled its line of 2006 Keepsake Christmas ornaments. Among the collection was an ornament featuring Lightning McQueen and Mater. There is also a Cars children's clothing line, which produces various T-shirts and shorts.

In Japan, Disney Japan and Toyota backed racing team Cars Racing replaced its racing car "Toy Story apr MR-S" and introduced the "Lightning McQueen apr MR-S" for the 2008 Super GT season. The car was based on the Toyota MR-S and the externals of the car were modeled on its of McQueen as much as possible. This include their number change from their original No.101 to McQueen's #95. They won in Race 3 that season.

As of 2011, the Cars franchise has grossed over $10 billion in merchandise sales revenue.

Cars Land

Cars Land is a 12-acre land located at Disney California Adventure which contains an entire full-sized recreation of the town of Radiator Springs from the Cars franchise. The land includes restaurants, shops, and three rides: Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters, and the main "E-Ticket" attraction, Radiator Springs Racers, which is one of the most expensive rides Disney has ever built; at a cost of over $200 million. Radiator Springs Racers lets guests race against each other around Ornament Valley while encountering several Cars characters. Cars Land opened on June 15, 2012 with the completion of Disney California Adventure's expansion along with Buena Vista Street.

Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters opened on March 7, 2016, and replaced Luigi's Flying Tires, which closed on February 17, 2015.

Cars Quatre Roues Rallye

Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, or Cars Race Rally, is an attraction at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée. The attraction opened on June 9, 2007 as part of the park's expansion land, Toon Studio. The ride opened one year after Cars showed its first screening. The attraction's setting is the small town of Radiator Springs (located in Toon Studio). The attraction's station is themed to a car service station located in the desert. The attraction is surrounded by boulders which imitates the rocky formations of the Grand Canyon. The ride system is a highly themed Zamperla Demolition Derby.

Riders begin the attraction by sitting down in one of the generic car-shaped vehicles. The vehicles are located on one of the four spinning plateaus. The attraction's layout is similar to "Francis' Ladybug Boogie" attraction at Disney California Adventure and the "Whirlpool" at Tokyo DisneySea, as the vehicles automatically change from one spinning plateau to the next. The vehicles change plateaus while carrying out the rotation inversion of eight separate vehicles. Cars Race Rally was the first operating Disney ride themed to the Cars franchise.

Legal issues

On January 1, 2017, Disney and Pixar Animation were awarded damages in their lawsuit against Chinese companies Bluemtv and G-Point for copyright infringement. A Shanghai court ruled that the Chinese film titled The Autobots was an illegal copy of Cars and fined the film's producer and distributor the equivalent of US$194,000. In his defense, director Zhuo Jianrong claimed he had never seen Cars.